If it’s in a word or it’s in a look, you can’t get rid of…Gobbledyween. Why would you want to? Especially when Paul and AJ are joined by such enlightening guests as K. Dale Koontz and Ensley F. Guffey, authors of Wanna Cook? The Complete, Unofficial Companion to Breaking Bad. Dale and Ensley help the boys crack open Jennifer Kent’s feature debut The Babadook, which has been called one of the most terrifying films ever made. The gang discusses the expectations that kind of praise sets up, how Kent uses the horror genre to explore depression and grief, the incredible acting of Essie Davis and Noah Wiseman, and, uh, Tarkovsky for some reason.

Next: Joseph Lewis, Joseph Lewis, Joseph Lewis! There, now the Nowheresville and A/V writer-director is on hand to liven up Gobbledyween with talk of Tim Burton’s 1988 classic Beetlejuice.

The new year is less than two days old, so once again, it’s time to look back to our favorites of last year. As always, lists are imperfect, incomplete, and totally subject to change upon reflection and the passage of time.

We’ll start with Paul; he remains skeptical of this whole top 10 business, so this year, his contributions to our lists (including comics, albums, and TV shows) will be presented without comment.

“A thing is a thing, not what is said of that thing,” reads the quote (sometimes attributed to Susan Sontag) stuck to Riggan Thomson’s mirror. One imagines the former superhero actor, played by a back-and-swinging-for-the-fences Michael Keaton, clings to that mantra as he negotiates a shot at artistic integrity with his paranoid need to be loved. It also serves as a warning to anyone trying to dissect the film or Iñárritu’s intentions. After making a career out of overwhelmingly somber dramas, Iñárritu has made a frenzied comedy propelled by a furious drum score from Antonio Sanchez. He also peppers the film with flights of insanity, in which Riggan has telekinetic powers or takes to the skies just like his old alter ego. How much of this is real? What does the film’s beautiful final shot mean? There’s a lot to be said, but you can also take Birdman for the absurd, chaotic, hilarious thing it is.